About GIBI

The Foundation

The Great Investors’ Best Ideas Foundation (GIBI), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was founded in 2007 as a premier investment event benefiting two great causes: The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and the Vickery Meadow Youth Development Foundation.

GIBI’s event expenses are fully underwritten by its founders, John Neill and Frederick “Shad” Rowe, so that all donations go directly to two exceptional charities. Each year, GIBI has donated about $1 million to its beneficiaries.

John Neill, an Oklahoma native, completed his B.A. at Yale and his M.B.A. at Harvard, where he met his business partner, Steve Rush. Together they co-founded Telesis Company in 1969. John lives in Dallas with Barbara, his wife of 48 years. They have three grown children. Barbara and John personally donate time and resources to the Vickery Meadow Youth Development Foundation’s programs, as do its board, full-time employees, and scores of community volunteers. //
John Neill first became actively involved in the Vickery Meadow community after he and Mr. Rush built Walnut Place, an assisted living residence and nursing care facility, across from Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas. At the time, 1980, Vickery Meadow was populated by young professionals. But only a few years later, following changes in housing laws and a real estate downturn, Vickery Meadow had become the crowded home of more than 50,000 residents within a three-mile radius. Many of the residents are refugee families; almost all are low-income. Particularly struck by the many needs—developmental, educational, and recreational—of the children in the area, Mr. Neill founded and still chairs the Vickery Meadow Youth Development Foundation (VMYDF). The programs VMYDF supports focus on academics, sports, character development, and early childhood development for children living in Vickery Meadow. Its signature program is Eagle Scholars, a vibrant six-year academic enrichment program for students from seventh grade through graduation. Summer camps, after-school activities, and college scholarships are also funded by the Foundation. The mission and daily endeavor of the Foundation is to bridge the gap of inequality for the children of Vickery Meadow, born into poverty, and help them develop to their full potential.

Shad Rowe

MANAGING PARTNER, GREENBRIER PARTNERS, LTD.

In 1985, Mr. Rowe founded Greenbrier Partners, Ltd., a private partnership which invests primarily in publicly-traded securities. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1998 and happily admits that his interest in finding a cure is self-serving.
Mr. Rowe is currently a board member of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, president of the Investors for Director Accountability Foundation, a member of the Executive Committee of Texans for Lawsuit Reform, serves on the Investment Committee of Texas Health Resources, a former trustee of the Employees Retirement System of Texas, and is a former chair of the Texas Pension Review Board. Mr. Rowe’s articles have appeared in Forbes, Fortune, Barron’s, The American Banker, Southpoint, Texas Monthly, D Magazine and Grant’s Interest Rate Observer. His comments have appeared in The New York Times, Bloomberg Markets, The Wall Street Journal, The Dallas Morning News and on CNBC and Bloomberg Television.
Mr. Rowe received a B.A. in History from Southern Methodist University and an M.B.A. from The University of Texas at Austin.